HOW CAN WE SOLVE THE OPIOID CRISIS STARTING NOW? With An Opioid Crisis Summit Like No Other

A Definitive Opioid Crisis Solutions Event

By Mark A. York (May 29, 2018)

(MASS TORT NEXUS MEDIA) It’s been called the most perilous drug crisis ever in the United States, the epicenter of the opioid epidemic, overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999, killing more than 100 people every day. Pharmaceutical opiate pain relief is an essential clinical tool, but with physicians writing over 240 million opioid prescriptions to Americans every year, the potential for catastrophe is enormous. Now it seems to be coming into realization that the opioid crisis is here and the damage is catastrophic, gauged against the devastating impact on families and communities across the United States. How can we get the message out that addiction is now recognized as a medical, not a criminal problem, and new treatments are on the horizon. How do we protect the population from misusing opioids? An Opioid Crisis Summit featuring national leaders who are involved in the day to day efforts to fight this opiate crisis on all levels, including Ohio Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor, Dr. Rahul Gupta, West Virginia Director of Public Health and others who are involved in providing real time solutions to the opiate epidemic as well as treating physicians and legal professionals who are active in offering solutions.

How did the opioid crisis happen?

In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates. This subsequently led to widespread diversion and misuse of these medications before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive. Opioid overdose rates began to increase. In 2015, more than 33,000 Americans died as a result of an opioid overdose, including prescription opioids, heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.1That same year, an estimated 2 million people in the United States suffered from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers, and 591,000 suffered from a heroin use disorder (not mutually exclusive).

What do we know about the opioid crisis?

An estimated 4 to 6 percent who misuse prescription opioids transition to heroin.

About 80 percent of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.

Opioid overdoses increased 30 percent from July 2016 through September 2017 in 52 areas in 45 states.

The Midwestern region saw opioid overdoses increase 70 percent from July 2016 through September 2017.

Opioid overdoses in large cities increase by 54 percent in 16 states.

Quarterly rate of suspected opioid overdose, by US region
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This issue has become a public health crisis with devastating consequences including increases in opioid misuse and related overdoses, as well as the rising incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome due to opioid use and misuse during pregnancy. The increase in injection drug use has also contributed to the spread of infectious diseases including HIV and hepatitis C. As seen throughout the history of medicine, science can be an important part of the solution in resolving such a public health crisis.

The Opioid Crisis Summit Agenda

An unprecedented group of elected officials, political and medical experts, and academic leaders from around the country are set to examine the crisis and offer insight and solutions.

On July 21-22, 2018, the definitive Opioid Crisis Summit presented by Mass Tort Nexus will convene a symposium to present a firsthand account as to the depth and severity of the crisis. The research team at Mass Tort Nexus has brought together influential speakers including the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, Mary Taylor; State Attorney for Palm Beach County Florida, Dave Aronberg, Esq.; Director of Public Health, State of West Virginia, Rahul Gupta, MD; Executive Director, Novus Medical Detox Centers, Kent Runyon; The Amy Winehouse Project Addiction Recovery Center, Susan Anderson and Blades Williamson; Opioid Crisis Advocate, Stephen Gelfand, MD and Opioid Crisis Expert, John Ray. These speakers are coming together to give our attendees a firsthand look at just how dramatic the impact of the opioid crisis is within our communities.

Summit attendees including attorneys, elected officials and healthcare officials will be giving specific information regarding the legal aspects of the Opioid Crisis as well. This relates to the Opiate Prescription MDL 2804, where hundreds of counties, states and cities across the country have filed lawsuits against the opiate pharmaceutical industry as a whole. This includes key MDL 2804 leadership counsel who will discuss signing of both entity and individual cases, regarding case criteria, damage models and estimated timeframes for settlement. See MDL 2804 Opiate Prescription Litigation US District Court of Ohio, for the National Prescription Opiate Litigation docket information.

This level of professional expertise and real time awareness of the issues regarding the opioid crisis in the United States has never been assembled on a scale such as this and if you are wanting to get the most critical and complete information, please contact someone at Mass Tort Nexus before all seats are taken.